Raven Girl

Chapter 37

Nadine woke to see Regina walking into her room, a pile of black in her arms. Her face was scared but determined.

"I brought you your clothes."

Nadine pawed through the black armour, the raven-feather coat. Regina had even found – or made – two leather vambraces for her, each one shaped like a raven's wing. She took a shuddering breath. At least she wasn't going to die dressed-up in whatever clothes Kostin saw fit for her. At least she would die... as herself.

Nadine was surprised to feel the emotion filling her at the sight of the clothes. She hugged Regina tightly, squeezing her eyes shut. No. No tears. She wanted her eyes to be clear when she stepped out to face whatever horror Kostin had in store for her. Regina embraced her fiercely back.

"Nadine, whatever happens next... Show them who you are. Show them you're a fighter. And promise me you'll fight to your last breath." Regina drew back to look Nadine in the eyes.

Nadine nodded, but it felt like an empty promise.

Regina's grip tightened until it hurt. "Promise me you won't stop fighting."

"I... I promise."

"Good. Because I'll fight, too, in whatever way I can." Regina hurried away, her composure beginning to break, and a guard unshackled Nadine so she could dress. The clothes were her armour – black, the colour she'd always favoured. She wondered if they'd give her any real protection.

The guards burst into the room as she was fastening her second vambrace – a lot of them, all at once, with no warning. Nadine's instincts launched into action and she attacked them, jabbing the pointy end of the vambraces into their faces, clawing and screeching like an animal. But there were too many, and they took hold of her roughly, forcing her to her knees. Her ankles were bound, a gag stuffed in her mouth, and a blindfold wrapped around her eyes. Her panicking increased.

Regina! She tried to scream, but it came out muffled. Help me! Guards hauled her up, and she was carried, twisting and fighting every step of the way, towards her doom.

*

"Why won't you tell me what it is? It's not like I can do anything to prevent it." Regina put her hands on her hips, facing her father in his study. Finally – for the first time since she'd arrived back at the Palace – she had been allowed to go somewhere useful.

Kostin was signing a document. When he'd finished and pushed it aside, he finally looked at her. "You've convinced yourself that these criminals are your friends. They have tricked you, after you've spent so long travelling with them. They are not like you and me, no matter how hard they try to be. The assassin is a killing machine. The pirate and the thief have no morals."

"That's not true." Regina slammed her hands onto the desk, marvelling at her own boldness. Before, she'd have never dared do this. "You only see them as a means to an end, but they are more than what you believe!"

Kostin sighed. "Very well. Come with me, and I shall show you their punishment."

Finally! Regina followed him through the Palace, hurrying to keep up with his long strides. She was going to find some way to stop it, disrupt it, buy them enough time to flee... She wondered why Kostin hadn't done anything to her yet. As a child, she'd been punished whenever she did anything wrong. Running away was worse than the rest of those put together, but Kostin hadn't said a word. She doubted he actually forgave her.

Svetlana's words rang in her head. Your father told me to do it. Kostin had orchestrated her mother's death. It couldn't be true, but Regina knew it was. She didn't have the strength to face this terrible fact, not yet, not while she needed a clear head if she wanted to help her friends.

Svetlana. Regina thought of how easy it had been to stab her in the shoulder, how satisfied she'd been when she heard the pain. How simple it was to push Svetlana off her dragon, ending her life forever.

I'm a murderer. She shivered, and picked up speed – she was falling behind.

"Here we are." Kostin stopped beside a familiar room.

"But... this is my room." She frowned. Were the other three somehow inside? Would she get to see them again?

"Yes." Kostin took a step forward, his eyes burning blue fire. His face contorted into a mask of cunning and cruelty. "And you are never leaving it again."

Regina gasped as guards grabbed her arms. One opened the door to her room – her prison. "Father! No! You can't – you can't lock me up like this – I'm not your prisoner –" Her breathing came in tiny gasps. Her lungs were constricted, she couldn't breathe – panic filled her head with white fog.

They threw Regina roughly into her room. She hit the floor and rolled until her shoulder smacked into the corner of her dresser. She groaned, trying to get up. The door was slowly closing, and behind it, Kostin watched her, his expression blank and unfeeling.

"No!" Regina ran at the door, slamming into it as it closed. She grabbed the handle, but it was too late. The key had already turned in the lock.

She was trapped. She had always been a prisoner in this Palace, but now it was official. Now her father wasn't even trying to deny it.

Regina sobbed in frustration, rattling the doorknob with sweaty hands. "Let me out!" Her friends needed her. She was the only one who could save them. And Kostin had known that.

Kostin was walking away down the corridor.

Regina hit the door with her palm. "Coward! Don't walk away from me! You – you killed my mother!"

The steps paused. "Yes."

Regina let out a scream of anger. "I'll kill you! I'll gouge your eyes out myself!"

"Keep her in there, even if you have to make her bleed to do it," Kostin said quietly to the guards. He left, paying no heed to Regina as she roared every insult she knew at him.

Regina put her head against the door. Her friends were doomed. She cursed herself for thinking she'd be able to confront her father. Now what was going to happen?

"I'm sorry, Gylfi, Nadine, Elias," she whispered. "I've failed you."